Newbie to Subaru Tuning....

[LJH]

Hello All,

I am a total newbie to turbo charged Subaru's but have been driving turbo'ed Audi's for some 25 years so I probably know just enough to be dangerous. My wife and I just bought a '08 OBXT 5MT with 32K on the clock. One of the most glaring issues I see with the car is its drivability. The turbo seems to take ages to spool (3K+ RPM) and when it does it feels like the boost controller is always playing "catch up" and is not really smooth in its transitions. On my past Audi's, especially our old '02 S4 (Stage 1.5=ECU Tuned, de-catted down pipes, stock exhaust) the motor felt like it had much more displacement and you really did not get the "rush" as the turbos spooled and to be honest it was really hard to tell the car had turbos, the torque curve was quite flat from 1750RPM through redline.....this is not the case in the XT.....

 

So, being a motorhead I am investigating ways to improve the XT drivability and performance, and reliability...in my searching it also looks like many aftermarket tunes are actually safer for the motor than Subaru's stock tune. In the Audi world you just pulled your ECU and send it off to the tuner of your liking, a few days later you receive your ECU back and enjoy your new found power. With the Subaru it looks like you can do a OTS tune VIA the Cobb access port or e-tuning. I have never done anything like e-tuning before but I am interested in seeing how difficult this is and if this is an option for me. Here are my objectives for doing this:

 

-Better Drivability-smoother spool, smoother boost ramp, smoother transition on and off boost.

-Increased reliability- Seems the Subaru tune runs lean, this scares me as our car spends a lot of miles on the highway and sees a lot of full throttle, lower RPM boost....think over taking scenario.

Increased Performance- Thinking of going stage II right off the bat, sounds like this would net somewhere around 300BHP and 300+ of torque...This should have the Outback right on the heals of our '04 S4.

 

 

What I am not looking for is a "wizz bang" turbo motor...I am looking for a motor that feels bigger than its 2.5l would suggest....something like the 2.7l Bi-Turbo V6 in our old S4 with its 380lbs/ft of torque (I know I am not getting that with the 2.5l) but I think you get my drift.

 

So, with that being known is e-tuning an option? how difficult is it? How long does it take to get a e-tune finished? Should I just go with the Cobb set up?

 

One last thing is the budget. I see you can get a Cobb AP for under $600, cheaper used. How much will it cost to do a e-tune if I already have a laptop?

 

Thanks and I look forward to hearing what you guys think.

 

Cheers,

Jim

'86 Audi 5000TQ (Intended Acceleration tuned)

'87 Audi 5000TQ (K27, Intended acceleration tuned)

'89 Audi 200Q (Intended Acceleration Tuned)

'91 200Q (Some RS2 Parts, Intended Acceleration tuned)

'84 Ur-q (K27, Intended Acceleration tuned)

'02 S4 (APR Tuned Stage 1.5)

'04 S4 (Downpipes, exhaust, normally aspirated)

[Drogos]

Well, without 2 smaller turbos spooling way under 2k I don't see that happen. Audi's drive train in general is more sophisticated and refined. Same with 2.0 T that sits in most audi's and VW. It might not have upgradability and brute power of Subaru but straight out of the factory is definitely more drivable and has power where you need it most on the street.

I am new to Subaru myself but already researching on making more torque in lower rpms, although my goals are little bit more realistic than 2.7 twin turbo-like performance

[Drogos]

By the way, you better put the flame suit on for not searching forum:)

Infamous is becoming e-tuning legend on this forum and you will see gains all over the power band even going all stock. You need a tactrix 2.0 cable for 170 or so and someone that will actually create that map for you so you are looking at over $300 and couple weeks of running back and forth to get it done.

 

I went with local company and road tune since in general it's superior to both e-tune and especially Cobb AP. For little over $300 I had my compression checked and road tuned with obvious gains and no studder. No wait for revisions and I had tuner actually in the car which makes a difference the way I see it. Bone stock - some numbers here

[spec.B Dream]

Stage 1 (tune) or 2 (tune+HFC/no cat) will help quite a bit. If you have access to e85, stage 2e is quite fun.

[PutnamCO]

Stage 1 (tune) or 2 (tune+HFC/no cat) will help quite a bit. If you have access to e85, stage 2e is quite fun.

 

+1 on E85 if it's available, as that is probably the best (cheapest) way to mimic the feel of a TT set-up on the low-end. If you're looking for 380 lb/ft tq, you will need a stage III set-up.

 

Do not go with an Accessport, as buying a Tactrix cable and an e-tune is cheaper, and will usually be a better tune. I had an Accessport V2 that erased all of the information off my ECU, requiring me to send my ECU to Cobb to be reprogrammed.

 

If you're not familiar with tuning, you may want to look into getting a road tune from a reputable local tuner, which I have found much easier than uploading a tune, logging, e-mailing the tune, uploading the revision, etc etc

 

BTW, very nice list of cars. My parents had a 5000 tq wagon when I was growing up.

[LatentWagen]

A properly tuned stage II setup with be right around that S4 in terms of power levels. Don't expect a single turbo flat 4 to spool as well as a twin turbo v6 with more displacement, but you can definitely improve the response. Think 2.5k instead of 3k+.

[lordeldor]

A properly tuned stage II setup with be right around that S4 in terms of power levels. Don't expect a single turbo flat 4 to spool as well as a twin turbo v6 with more displacement, but you can definitely improve the response. Think 2.5k instead of 3k+.

Agreed. At stage two my car hit full boost by 2700.

[bmx045]

dont you love it when the OP disappears?

[LJH]

Have not disappeared....

 

I did do some more reading last week and I have decided that the Cobb AP is not what I want to go with. With that being said I still have not made up my mind whether to get a local tuner to do it...to be honest I have not been impressed with the two local guys who tune Rubaru's, or to do e-tuning. The more I read the more I think I will go with someone like Infamous just for the fact he has done so many of these cars and have not read a bad thing about him except for some cases of him being a bit slow.

 

Just a FYI, this past weekend I did some testing with a Iphone App called Dynolicious which is suppose to be pretty accurate and in the two timed runs, starting at the same location I got 14.7 @97MPH for the quarter....not bad for a off-road wagon.....LOL.

 

Thanks for all the info and I will let you know what I end up going with.

 

Cheers,

Jim

[goneskiian]

A custom tune will improve drivability dramatically. I have a stage 2 infamous tune and it's SOOO much smoother than the stock tune. Way smoother than the COBB stage 2 tune as well.

 

If you're comfortable with tuning and computers, which it sounds like you are, then open source via a Tactrix cable is definitely a great idea and way cheaper than an AP.

 

Good luck!